Today the developing ways of. Designer's Approach

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2 Today the developing ways of lighting design, challenges we face, technologies being developed and going to be applied are of greatest concern lighting designers. In this article, we will address this reflection in a personal manner, reviewing the things that we take into account in the practice of design and I will also indicate some ways we need to explore. Lighting is a social necessity. We need light to develop our activities, to create security. The basic need of lighting is to illuminate a space, full of light in general. In many underdeveloped countries and even in many parts of the developed countries, the only approach of lighting is: a bulb or a fluorescent light in the ceiling of a room...it is light to see. But, as is common in the human nature, once solved a need, we generate a new one more sophisticated. Moreover to viewing spaces, it is important to COMMUNICATE them. To do this we must create hierarchies of light levels, emphasize its architectural peculiarities, order, rhythm. To generate emotion, both aesthetically and surprise; it is light to watch and contemplate, and even to delight. This is the present situation of most lighting design projects. Through order and rigor generate emotion. 42 November - December 2009 Lighting India

3 Important Aspects of Lighting Designing We must overcome our limitations in every way possible: through associations and professional conferences where we can share our 'discoveries' or experiences and then we need to disseminate them through specialized channels such as is this magazine. Today, the projects are composed by two "ingredients" core. The technical aspects such as consumption, lamp life (in hours as in performance), colour temperatures, type of luminaries to be used, accessories, control systems, etc. Are measurable data, accountants, easily manageable, with the possibility of regulating standards. Aspects that will set values for items such as EFFICIENCY, SUSTAINABILITY, MAINTENANCE etc. And of course the subjective aspects, which are as important or more than technicians, even if more difficult to define, quantify and include in legislation. In the metaphor of an iceberg, the technical aspects represent those parts of it that remains above water. They are visible, measurable and quantifiable. Instead, the subjective aspects would be those parts of it that are under water. We know that it is the most part of the block of ice, but we can not see, we do not know its shape... although we are developing tools to acquire knowledge about it. And we have all the accumulated experience. We have very well solved the technical side, and further developed to have better characteristics. But the subjective part is not the object of major studies and developments because it do not provide economic benefits, atleast for now. The technical aspect of lighting projects has experienced significant Lighting India November - December

4 development. But this also done, for example engineers. We, as lighting designers should incorporate to this technical development the subjective part, which we define as the added value of the project. What are those subjective components that make completely different a project done by a lighting designer from another professional? I do not know any manual that indicate these aspects in an orderly manner. And I know that every professional has developed their approaches according to their training and personal qualities. There are those who approach these principles from the architecture, art, photography... point of view. I am an industrial designer and I will explain that I consider: The importance of the USER. All design should be developed taking into account the user of it. A tool with bad grip, an uncomfortable chair, difficult to use software; are considered as bad designs, they do not work properly. A lighting design that does not take into account the user of it, is doomed to failure. On one side it is very important to know the space from the architectural point of view. Their volumes, prominent architectural elements, finishing s and also the concept that the architect had in mind to develop this architecture. The same happens for interior design and landscaping. Once those architectural aspects are known, we need to know how 44 November - December 2009 Lighting India

5 will be the use(s) of the space to illuminate it properly. Realizing a comprehensive exercise of "putting yourself in the place" of the User, "to travel imaginatively" through the space, "make" the activities of the place should give us a wealth of information we use to implement the lighting design. And finally we need to know the User. How people perceive! How we see, what issues make the vision easy, to empower them, what's difficult it to try to avoid them! The following points give us the answer relative to people, to the User. Factors influencing the VISION. Perhaps the most important factor influencing the vision is the CONTRAST. Lighting India November - December

6 The contrast is caused by differences between colours or luminances (portion of light reflected by a body arriving on the eye) between an element of the visual field and the rest. The higher the better we will see, distinguish details and we will produce less fatigue during the process of vision. over thousands of years of evolution. We all know that it is sensitive to a narrow fraction of the energy spectrum and that has an operation that we have copied to produce the cameras. And from here it generates a fatal error. In cameras, the film in analogic ones and the sensor in digital ones, which are the copy of our retinas impressed by the image, and that impression is revealed in paper or seen on our seen quite differently the same space. But if each User is fixed in the details to give them unequally, according to its principles, values different from them. And the vision is UNCONSCIOUS. For a person with normal vision, over 70% of all the information they receive is through the sense of sight. The conscious vision consumes a very high amount of our energy (remember a visit to a museum, we went out exhausted) For this reason most of our vision is not conscious. The care in lighting help a lot, as it can get to compensate low contrast in colours by increasing the luminance. The contrasts allow us to separate planes, generating hierarchies, etc. And what is more important, it is not fatiguing. Vision is not ocular, is cerebral. Our eye is a "sensor" developed computer screens. And the process is finished. In human vision arrived at this point, the vision process has just begun. The "picture" that has taken by our retina is sent to the brain where a compendium of psychological aspects (past experiences, cultural factors, interest, etc.) will permit the same information acquire different aspects to different people. Not that those psychological components to make each person Given the above, it is easy to understand that lighting designs should take full account of this unconscious and cerebral vision and brain. Proposing effects very easy to capture, operating in different cultural environments (now globalization helps) and hardly requires the use of our rational brain. Do not fatigue. Sounds easy, eh... The NATURE CYCLES. All the human evolution has been subjected to the nature cycles, both the day-night, as the spring-summerautumn-winter (slightly different 46 November - December 2009 Lighting India

7 depending on the latitude). Being highly significant both cycles, the day-night cycle has an importance much higher. We are influenced by every 24 hours, 365 times a year and also for all men on earth (despite minor peculiarities as those that occur near the poles). The seasonal cycle, equally important, has more differences among the different positions on the globe. Among the functions performed by the "oldest" parts of our brain are all those related to the organism which improve it rather than creating "noise" in perception. Recently, it has discovered a new photo-receptor in the retina, unlike rods and cones, whose function is the Circadian photoreception for the adjustment of the biological clock. Studies are being conducted on its photopigment (melanopsin) to know the wavelength of light most effective in this role. stimulus received from abroad, we can complete the forms in the mental way. All those processes are also performed UNCONSCIOUSLY. I use a lot the shadow. Shadow is an another important aspect in lighting design where management is more complex. The generation of shadows enhances the contrast regulations (heart rate, respiration, hormones segregation, etc.) and a majority of those functions are influenced by the solar time, by our "inner clock" that is synchronized with the sun; are the Circadian Cycles and we must bear in mind that those processes are UNCONSCIOUS. Aspects such as light levels, spectral composition of light, colour temperature; are technical and generate reaction in the body influenced by the characteristics of light. Must be taken into account to be positive factors for the design, PSYCOLOGICAL aspects These are the most complex aspects. Nobody knows for sure that processes are developed in the brain during the visual perception. Among the elements that have been identified are: a combination of experiences cultural symbols, styles or trends, and it seems that we all sharing some mental processes of simplification and generation of forms and shapes that with small also the presence of shadows shows partially some objects. Our brain is responsible for "supplement" and also as a side effect, we will create some "curiosity" attraction. Many of the ways we have behind us looking for these improvements. Technological developments are those with more widespread (and also financial investment) LEDs, Lighting India November - December

8 OLEDs, discharge lamps of lower power, improved regulation of discharge lamps; are just some of the ways in the name of the EFFICIENCY. We will walk through in the future within the technical field of lighting, the measurable, the legalized. Outstanding in the subjective aspects all studies directed towards comfort and even to health by lighting. As the lighting spectrums improving the production performance by making the employees feel more comfortable. The use of colour in hospitals, and improve mood even in offices, etc. are the ways to enrich the subjective factors of lighting and the vision process. It would be nice to coordinate the results between the technical and subjective developments, since it seems that the former ignores the latter, there is a border between them. I want to rescue the 'image of the iceberg' expressed at the beginning of the article. Both aspects are one unit, indivisible. The technical aspects have their subjective counterpart. One example of the lack of dialogue between the two sides is worldwide regulations for the immediate elimination of incandescent lamps. How the prevalence of interest in the name of EFFICIENCY, and certainly in business, is going against HEALTH. The famous artist and producer Ingo Maurer predicted the increasing of visits to psychologists after the disappearance of the incandescent lamp. It seems only lighting designers 48 November - December 2009 Lighting India

9 are aware of the complexity of the effects generated by the lighting. We have a great task. We should communicate to the rest of society what is important and that a large group of professionals ignore or not take into account about light. We must overcome our limitations in every way possible: through associations and professional conferences where we can share our 'discoveries' or experiences and then we need to disseminate them through specialized channels such as is this magazine. Rafael Gallego, Lighting Designer since 1998, PLDA professional member, APDI co-founder and professional member (Spanish Professional Lighting Designer s Association) and CEI member (Spanish Lighting Comitee). In 2004, he co-founded the first lighting design studio in Madrid. Later in 2007, he decided to open his own studio, áureolighting. Rafael Gallego Lighting India November - December